


Growing up with Superheroes

by solrosan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aunt Natasha Romanov, Barton Family, Childhood, Gen, Growing Up, Lila Barton is a feminist, Origin Story, Uncle Steve Rogers, Uncle Thor, Uncle Tony Stark, uncle bruce banner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 19:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4535016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solrosan/pseuds/solrosan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When Lila was four years old her dad got possessed by a Norse god, and she saw her mom scared for the first time. At the time she didn’t fully understand what was going on, no one really took the time to explain it, but it changed the course of her life forever.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing up with Superheroes

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is two ounces English chaos, and one ounce serious headcanon. Be warned. Be very warned.
> 
> * * *

When Lila was four years old her dad got possessed by a Norse god, and she saw her mom scared for the first time. At the time she didn’t fully understand what was going on, no one really took the time to explain it, but it changed the course of her life forever. 

On a global scale, what happened to her dad wasn’t more than a footnote in history compared to the events that followed. Personally, to Lila, the alien attack on New York seemed completely unimportant. Because dad got possessed by a Norse god, and mom was scared. It would take years for her to make the connection between the aliens and the fact that dad sometimes woke the entire house by screaming wordlessly in anguish. Mom always said it was all right, that dad was all right and that it was just nightmares, but Lila had never had nightmares like that. From the time she was about six years old, she always hugged dad extra hard the mornings after the nightmares.

About the same time as all those historically important events that would form the society Lila grew up in, something even more significant happened in Lila’s life: dad brought home the woman with the crazy red hair and the mischievous smile for the first time. She was called Natasha and worked with dad. She was like a mix between an older sister who let them get away with everything, and a parent they couldn’t sneak anything by. Just like dad, she brought them strange presents from all over the world every time she came to the farm – but even though she stayed over a lot, Lila never heard her scream during the nights. Lila grew up calling her first Aunt Nat, even if they weren’t related. They even celebrated Aunt Nat’s birthday every year, just like they did dad’s, wheatear she was there or not. Balloons and everything. No one ever told Lila that it was mom and dad who had made up Aunt Nat’s birthday, because Aunt Nat didn’t know when she was born.

Mom and dad also never told Lila that she couldn’t talk about the fact dad had been in New York when the aliens came, but for some reason it felt like she shouldn’t. Perhaps because the night before her first day of school, Cooper came into her room after bedtime and explained to her that if anyone asked, she should say that dad was in the army. Then Cooper spent a long time telling her what he had told people at school, and said that she had to stick with that story. If she made up something of her own, she had to tell him. They started to exchange notes about their dad in the army every Sunday night. It became an elaborate web of lies which by the time Nathaniel was about to start school had grown seriously out of proportion. By then, very few people believed them, anyway.

When, at school, they played Avengers vs Aliens at recess, everyone wanted to be Captain America or Iron Man, and some girls fought about who would get to be Black Widow this time. Lila was always Hawkeye. And if anyone said he was boring or lame or not a real hero, Lila told them that Hawkeye could shot them in through the ears from 500 yards away, that he could beat everyone (except maybe the Hulk) in hand-to-hand combat, and that he made the best pancakes. If anyone wondered how she knew that, she just shrugged. Once, when one of the many Iron Man boys said especially nasty things about how Black Widow couldn’t be a super hero because she was a girl, Lila told him that Tony was just a rich, overgrown kid with expensive toys. She had heard dad and Aunt Nat say that a lot, and it sounded really good. The boy didn’t talk to her for the rest of the semester. Lila wasn’t that bothered, and when mom, dad heard and Aunt Nat heard about it, they couldn’t stop giggling.

Lila had just turned eight when the news reported that a city in South Africa had been demolished by the Avengers, the so-called American heroes. No one wanted to play Avengers at school anymore after that, and more than one of Lila’s classmates were ashamed of their Avengers backpacks, sneakers, notebooks, and hats. If mom had let her, Lila would have worn her Hawkeye t-shirt every day as an act of defiance. Instead mom gave her a necklace with an arrow, similar to the one Lila had given Aunt Nat for her birthday some years ago. Lila wore it as a medal of honor, even if very few people understood what it stood for.

After his first chaotic visit, Uncle Steve started to follow Aunt Nat to the farm when she came. He rarely stayed for long, but he always helped dad with his building projects. It didn’t really improve the outcome, and mom and Aunt Nat used to joke about it. He never came alone, but he always said that he loved the drawings Lila sent him, and mom made sure they always include an extra line for him whenever they wrote dad or Aunt Nat.

Uncle Tony and Uncle Bruce only came when mom insisted on it, which wasn’t very often. Most times it was after dad and Uncle Steve had failed spectacularly at one of their renovations projects and mom grew tired of them trying to fix it. Once Lila heard mom order dad to bring Uncle Bruce home with him. Lila never figured out why, but Uncle Bruce came and he stayed for an entire week. He spent most of his time in the guestroom, but he told them really amazing stories about his travels during dinner. 

In sixth grade, Lila tried to cheat on her science project by asking Uncle Tony do it for her. He ratted her out to mom and dad in a heartbeat, but then he helped her build a robot that could play _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_ on piano. She won the science fair that year, and that was also the year she decided to become an engineer. Uncle Tony told her to give him a call when she had her degree; dad threatened to disown her if she started working for Stark Industries. Lila was only half-sure he was joking. 

Sometimes Thor came to visit too, Lila never called him “uncle”, but he taught her to braid her hair in the most remarkable ways. She also convinced him to “forget” his hammer on top of the left-over spinach soup, so that they just _had_ to order pizza. Thor was the least grown up grown-up Lila had ever met. She was in her late teens before she realized that it was Thor’s brother who was the reason her dad had nightmares. For years afterwards, she wanted to ask Thor about it, but she never gathered the courage to. 

Lila grew up surrounded by superheroes, but to her they never were the larger than life personas the media – and later history – made them out to be. They were just Aunt Nat and Uncle Steve, who always helped her out if she had done something stupid; they were goofy Uncle Tony and introvert Uncle Bruce, who she could call at all hours of the day because she needed help with her thesis or dissertation. It was dad, who finally finished her butterfly themed room her first year at college, and who cried, beaming with pride, when she walked across the podium to accept her diploma as the first Barton to ever graduate from college. They were the people she counted on when she had bad breakups and failed exams, when she had terrible self-doubt and crippling fears. They were the ones who sent her birthday cards and celebrated her victories with her.

They were superheroes to the world, but not to Lila.

Because Lila was only four years old when her dad was possessed by a Norse god, and she saw her real hero go on anyway and pretend that she wasn’t scared to death of what was happening, just to comfort her children. 

The morning of the battle of New York, mom took Lila and Cooper into town and they had ice cream, but Lila didn’t remember that. She remembered the evening after the battle when mom, almost in confidence, told her that dad would come home the day after tomorrow. And when he did, mom hugged the red haired women he brought, almost as long as she hugged dad, and welcomed her home.

Mom always did that. She always hugged the people dad brought home, but before she did, she asked if she could. At least the first couple of times they came. Mom also always had a bed made up, just in case, because dad brought home people a lot. First Aunt Nat, then Uncle Steve, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Tony and Thor. Then Wanda, whose brother Nathaniel was named after. And then Sam, who refused to be called Uncle Sam. And Kate, who was almost as good as dad with a bow and arrow and who Cooper had a crush on. And Uncle Barney, who actually was their uncle. Not everyone stayed as often or as long as Aunt Nat, but everyone was always welcome. Mom always made sure they felt at home. And they always got a hug, if they wanted to.

The first person her own age Lila asked if she could hug – a girl who she had exchanged friend bracelets with – laughed at her, and just hugged her rather than answer. The first time someone hugged Lila without asking, Lila shoved them to the ground. It wasn’t greatly appreciated, but Lila kept at it, no matter the strange looks she got when she asked, and the confusion (and sometimes anger) she evoked when she pushed people away. Because mom asked before hugging someone. Lila never wondered why, even after she understood that this wasn’t the norm, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Once, in high school, Lila got into a fistfight with a boy who wouldn’t stop putting his hand on her thigh during class. She got a few good punches in before the boy got over his qualms about hitting girls. When mom came to get her, she was sitting in the principal’s office, with a black eye and dried blood under her nose. According to mom, Lila had never looked more like dad. Lila took that as a compliment, and mom’s angry comments to the principal about sexual harassment in the classroom as approval of her actions. The next time Aunt Nat came to visit, mom asked her to teach Lila how to fight properly without coming out of it looking like dad. Aunt Nat looked confused, but didn’t argue. Very few people argued with mom when she used that voice, Lila had noticed.

Aunt Nat claimed Lila was a natural at martial arts, but Lila grew tired of it when Aunt Nat wasn’t around. She also played soccer for three years before she grew tired of it too. It wasn’t until she had twin daughters of her own – and a partner with a nine-to-five job – she grasped what an achievement it had been for mom to come to every single one of her soccer games (even the ones when it rained), on top of everything else, at the same time as working as a pediatric nurse. She thought about telling mom that, but she never found the right words. 

Mom taught Cooper and Nathaniel how to drive, but dad was home when it was time for Lila to get behind the wheel for the first time. The entire family was grateful for that, and Lila always suspected that dad had asked for a special leave to make sure she and mom didn’t kill each other. Mom taught her all the lyrics to _Bohemian Rhapsody_ though. And how to make a brownie in a mug. Then she nagged about brushing her teeth, and cleaning her room, and doing her homework. Lila needed to be nagged about the homework _a lot_. 

Before Lila handed in her dissertation she sent it to mom, because mom had read everything she had ever handed in before she had started college to correct the spelling and the grammar. Lila admitted that it was a bit silly, but there was no way she was going to hand in the most important report of her life without having mom read it first. When she got it back, dad had read it too, both of them saying that they weren’t even sure what she was writing about – but on page 81 she really should do something about that sentence that went on for an entire paragraph.

When Lila was asked by her Alma Mater to give a speech about how it was to grow up around superheroes, she accepted. She walked on stage and she talked about her dad, the archer who had been possessed by a Norse god when she was just four years old, what that had done to her family, and how much she admired him for going out saving the world for her _again_. She talked about her Aunt Nat, who had been trained from childhood to kill, but who was the kindest person in the world and who had taught her to castrate men with her hands. She talked about Uncle Tony who just wanted to make the world a better place, about Uncle Bruce who was always afraid of hurting everyone around him, and about Uncle Steve who never really caught up with the modern time.

Then she talked about her mom, the true hero in her life. Because Lila’s dad made sure that she had a world to grow up in, but her mom made sure she did.


End file.
